The new iconnect2invest platform will give clients the ability to place trades and move money, as long as their advisors agree it makes sense for them to have that option, PrimeVest said.

While clients value their advisors, they increasingly want access to self-directed investing options that they can use in conjunction with their advisors, Sean Casey, PrimeVest's director of businessdevelopment, said in an interview.

He said that investment programs offering client access to self-directed investing options generate more revenue for their banks and credit unions. According to a study by Kehrer-LIMRA, investment programsoffering online brokerage capabilities generated 33% more deposit revenue penetration than those that did not. In addition, average annual advisor revenue increased 13%, according to the study.

"With iconnect2invest, investment programs have a powerful tool to maximize self-service, efficiency and revenue. And it gives advisors more flexibility to choose how they want to interact with clients andmanage accounts," said Catherine Bonneau, PrimeVest's president and chief executive officer.

Bank investment programs supported by PrimeVest will be able to market the iconnect2invest platform under their own private label. The new platform replaces PrimeVest's current retail investor platform, which has more than 67,000 registered users.

The new platform is much more robust than the one being overhauled, Casey said. For example, its tax-lot trading feature allows clients to identify which lots of a particular stock they want to sell, acapability the old platform lacked. The new platform also features integrated gain/loss reporting and in-depth sector analysis, Casey said.